Your Geek is Showing
by krazyhippo66
Summary: Proposal 101 for the adorkable.


The key sounded inside the lock, metal clacking on metal a long time before the door actually swung open, Cosima basically falling through. In her arms were a bunch of grocery bags, along with her purse and essay questions to grade.

"I was beginning to think you forgot about me," Delphine said, licking some sauce off her finger as she turned.

She watched for a moment as Cosima struggled to throw her keys in the bowl before focusing back on dinner.

"Not possible," Cosima laughed, kicking the door closed. "Nothing in the world would make me forget I've got a half-naked, sexy as fuck, French woman cooking in my house, waiting for me to get home. No way. It'll be permanently etched in my head for the rest of time."

She dropped the groceries haphazardly onto the counter, throwing the essays onto the closest chair.

"How did you know I was half-naked?" Delphine asked absentmindedly as she stirred.

She was dressed in a bra and skirt, her shirt nowhere to be seen.

"The you in my head never has clothes on."

Delphine gave her a look over her shoulder.

"What? It's a compliment!"

Delphine raised her eyebrows before turning back to the stove.

"Fine, fine," Cosima conceded. "We don't have any aprons yet and you always talk about spilling on your precious clothes."

She searched around noisily through the shopping bag. Delphine gently set down her spoon and sauntered over, standing on the other side of the counter, watching her girlfriend with soft eyes. Eventually, Cosima found what she was looking for, walking slowly around the counter, bottle of wine extended. "For you, my dear."

Delphine smiled and reached out, her arm instead grabbing for Cosima's waist, pulling her in close. "Perfect."

She brought their lips close together, feeling Cosima's breath catch. "Now, ma chère, I have to shower. You must watch this while I'm gone."

She kissed Cosima lightly before pulling back far enough to see her girlfriend's petrified look. "I can't cook!"

Delphine laughed and stepped away, removing the dishtowel from her shoulder and throwing it over Cosima's. "Tu es si mignonne."

"What?"

She laughed again. "You're so cute, chérie. You think I don't know you can't cook?"

"Then why are you leaving me in charge of date night dinner?!" Cosima asked, panicked. "That is like the worst idea of the _century_."

"I have faith in you," Delphine said as she walked away, already pulling at the zipper of her skirt. "All you need to do is turn everything off when the timer ends. D'accord?"

Cosima frowned into the empty room.

"D'accord," she muttered mockingly, making a face.

"I heard that."

Cosima sighed. "Sorry," she mumbled, running her hand over her face.

She looked around, feeling sort of useless. She wasted about a minute putting all the groceries away, and it was only when she went to sit down did she notice the unusually bare table by the door.

"Delphine?" she called.

"Oui?"

"Did you get the mail?"

"What?"

She came into view, topless and in her underwear, in the process of removing her earrings. For a moment, Cosima blanked, her mouth instantly dry at the sight. Delphine's beauty got her every time. No matter how often. Clearing her throat, she brought her eyes back up to the blonde's face. "Mail. Umm…le courrier?"

Delphine laughed. "Your accent is terrible." She shifted her weight to one hip.

"You knew what I said, didn't you?" Cosima asked, her eyes narrowing.

She received an innocent shrug. "I like when you try French for me. And no. I'm sorry. I forgot it."

Cosima couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, and she rolled her eyes to cover it up.

"Failure."

Delphine smirked back, spinning back toward the bathroom. "Handle it."

Cosima quickly checked the time left on everything, and deciding it was enough time, threw on her jacket.

"I'll be right back, hon!" she called over the running water.

"Dépêches-toi!"

Cosima smiled to herself as she rushed out. She'd heard that one enough to know what it meant. Hurry up. So she nestled a little further into her coat and braced herself for the cold air as she opened the door to the apartment complex.

No one was really out. It was a cold, snowy day. Why would they? Right. To get mail. That was about the only thing she _didn't_ like about her apartment complex. The mailboxes were in a different building. Granted, not _far_, but still. At least when she had lived on campus back in undergrad, the mailboxes were not a bone-chilling walk away from catching pneumonia.

Her clone phone rang as she crossed the street. She sighed and picked it up.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah. Hey, Cosima."

"…Hey?" She said hesitantly. Since when did she get a hello? "What's up? Anything wrong?"

"No. Nothing's wrong. Just checking up."

Cosima's brow furrowed. "When have you ever checked up on me, Sarah? C'mon, spill your guts, what's up."

"Nothing!" she insisted, that little annoyed tone in her voice. "Are you alright?"

"Is there any reason I wouldn't be?"

"No. Just…making sure."

"Yeah…" Cosima said slowly. "I'm fine. Delphine's fine. We're just…we're still in Minneapolis. I'll fly up to help you guys out in a couple days. I've just gotta wait to present my dissertation."

"That's okay," she said distantly. "Uhh…Cosima?"

"Yes?"

"Since, I apparently am not very good at it, could you maybe give me some advice…?"

"On what?"

"Where to bury a body."

"Sarah!" Cosima chastised. "What happened?!"

"It's not my fault!" Sarah protested. "This was Alison! She got all panicked again and sorta…"

"Sorta _what_, Sarah?"

"Sorta…killed her neighbor."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"_Shit_. Again?"

"_Yeah_. Now I really don't want anyone finding this one 'cause we can't have more bloody police shite working its way back to me and my criminal record, yeah?"

"Alright…" Cosima put her hand to her forehead, sighing heavily. "Just…"

She stopped talking as she entered the front building with the mailboxes. "Just hold on," she said quickly.

She dug for her mailbox key and grabbed their unusually large stack of mail, running as fast as possible back into the street.

"Just…I dunno, don't bury it next to a construction site?"

"Wow. You're a real genius. Just all brains, aren't ya?"

"Chill, Sarah. Seriously."

"How can I chill? Alison is bloody _freaked_. It's like the talking to herself kinda snapped, Cos. Like…I don't even know if she sees me half the time. She might even think I'm her as a hallucination or God knows what. So I have to keep her on the right track back to sanity-ville. AND I've gotta get rid of this bloody body and with my bloody face it'll be bloody difficult and JESUS BLOODY CHIRST I DO NOT WANT TO CHILL."

"You're starting to sound as wound up as Alison," Cosima said calmly. "But British."

There was a long pause on the other end, and she heard Sarah exhale a long breath.

"Thank you. I needed that slap in the face." She wasn't being sarcastic.

Cosima laughed. "I know. And since I couldn't be there to do it in person, I figured a verbal one was the best I could give."

Sarah sighed again, and Cosima could picture her running her hand through her hair. "Alright. Objectives. Keep Alison from 1.) Killing herself, 2.) Telling anyone 3.) Drinking….And then bury the body, keep after Helena, watch Kira…Jesus Cos. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really need you."

"Who are you and what've you done with Sarah?" Cosima quipped, holding the mail closer to her body.

Sarah laughed. "I killed her and took her place. Couldn't you tell?"

Cosima rolled her eyes. "I'll be there in like a week, okay? Just hold tight."

"Oh, I'll be holding, alright. Holding onto a nice bottle of bourbon in one hand, Alison's new leash in the other."

"Sarah…" she warned.

"Yeah, yeah. I give you my responsible adult promise, 'kay? I'll hold down the fort."

"You better."

"I will, Cos," her tone turned serious. "I know how much Alison means to you."

Despite her best efforts, Cosima smiled. "I love her. I…I love you too, Sarah…You know that…right? We're…"

"We're family," Sarah confirmed quickly. "Now stop getting all sentimental on me, Cos."

"See you soon," she said, stepping out of the stairwell and onto her floor.

"Yeah." Cosima was expecting her to hang up, but she didn't. "I love you too."

And then the line clicked off.

So she was sentimental after all. Good to know.

She opened the front door, only to find the timer going off, Delphine standing there dripping wet, one hand clutching the towel around her, the other pulling the dish from the oven. Her eyes shot to meet Cosima's. The brunette smiled at her apologetically. "I told you not to trust me."

"Where were you?" she exclaimed. "Les boîtes aux lettres sont dans la rue!"

Cosima sighed. "Sarah called. I'm sorry. She was having some…issues."

"What kind of issues?"

"Alison sorta gone off her rocker."

Delphine gave a puzzled look at Cosima before looking back to what her hands were doing, dropping the dish onto the unoccupied burners.

"She went off the deep end. Lost her marbles. Flipped her lid. Wigged out."

The blonde simply shook her head.

"She has lost all her mental capacity. She is a nut job. She's a psycho bitch—"

"Ahh! Elle est folle! Elle n'est pas bien dans sa tete."

"I heard 'not good' and 'head' in that sentence. So I think we're on the same page."

"Went crazy."

"Yes."

"Well then I guess you are forgiven," she sighed. "Can I trust you to plate it while I rinse my hair?"

"Yes! Yes. Go." Cosima assured her with a wave of her hands.

She hurried to plate their dinner so she could at least have done one thing right the whole evening. She put Delphine's on her side of the bed, hopping up and crossing her legs up, putting her plate in her lap. She dropped the mail in a sloppy pile beside her, going through each piece with her left hand, eating with her right.

Bill, bill, scholarship renewal she needed to cancel, junk, junk, bill, thank you card, bill, junk…what?

"Delphine?"

"Oui?"

She reappeared from the bathroom, causally toweling her hair dry.

"Why do you have a package from LifeScan Minnesota?" Cosima asked, holding up a large manila envelope.

Delphine looked at Cosima for a long moment before shrugging.

"Test results."

"Delphine!" Cosima protested. "You said you'd take a break from analyzing my blood."

"I did!" Delphine assured. "Je te promets. That is for me."

"For you?"

Cosima tilted her head in confusion as Delphine softly sat down on the bed beside her and took her plate into her lap.

"Oh. Je m'excuse. _Of_ me."

"What?!" Cosima snapped her head over. "Are you okay?!"

"Oui!" Delphine exclaimed. "Yes! I'm fine, chérie! They're just brain scans."

"Brain scans?!"

"Not for…medical…issues!" she corrected quickly. "They were scans monitoring electrical impulses and chemical release based on different stimuli. Positron emission tomography, c'est tout. It was just…I was feeling…strange. I wanted to go to the source."

"Strange how?"

"My moods are different. My reactions are too. I wanted to make sure my brain activity was normal."

"You mean like…emotions?"

"Mhm," she managed through a mouthful of food.

Cosima let out an incredulous laugh. "Why not just go to a therapist like someone normal?"

"Therapists give opinions," Delphine shrugged. "This way I can formulate my own answers, based on what is _really_ going on in my head, not what they _say_ is going on."

Cosima rolled her eyes and sighed. "Sweetie, your geek is showing."

"Says the woman who wears that lewd Helicase shirt to bed," she teased, taking a bite and raising her eyebrows.

"Aww c'mon, Delphine!" Cosima tried to sound serious, but she was already laughing. "You know I only wear that on bad days."

Delphine smirked. "Ouais, ouais. I'll unzip your jeans any day," she mocked, nudging Cosima lightly in the ribs.

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"It wouldn't be a very effective threat, non?"

Cosima bit her lip. Delphine took a sip of her wine, looking over and catching her staring. "What?"

"Nothing," Cosima deflected lightly, leaning a little closer. "You're just…really sexy."

Delphine smirked and closed their distance, bringing their lips together for a brief moment. Cosima hummed contentedly, Delphine's natural essence mixing with the tang of her wine. "Now eat," Dephine ordered gently.

Cosima grumbled out her concession, shoveling more food in her mouth.

"How was your day?"

The brunette laughed. "Good and bad. I had to TA the gen bio one final."

Delphine scrunched up her nose and made an empathetic noise. "I hate that."

"I know, right? With anything else, I can at least get work done. Tests, I've gotta walk around and be all menacing and shit. But Cell and Molec three wasn't so bad. And I had some lab time too, so that makes up for it, I guess."

"But you are so close, yes?"

"Yeah," Cosima nodded, covering her mouth as she finished chewing. "I finished up all the changes my advisor told me to do on my dissertation. I'm gonna send it back soon, but then all I've gotta do is present it to my committee and then…yeah. Either I get it or I don't."

"Are you nervous?" Delphine asked, tilting her head to better inspect her girlfriend.

"Hell yes. I have slaved over this damn research and analysis and I have to hand my fate over to a bunch of professors and the rest of the board and let them decide my fate. And if I get it wrong, there's no take backs. No do-overs." She ran her hand over her face and took a deep breath. "But I don't want to think about it. I've gotten enough gray hairs from Sarah and Alison. This will not help."

Delphine reached over and rubbed her back. "You'll do fine. You're the smartest woman I know. _Plus intelligent que moi._"

Cosima rolled her eyes and shoved the blonde. "Shut up, _Dr_. Cormier."

Delphine frowned. "I'm a year older than you, chérie. C'est tout. It is not because I am smarter."

Cosima put her hand over her face again.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head slightly before uncovering her face. "I can't focus. Have you even seen the results yet?"

For a moment, Delphine looked at her confused, but when she understood, she giggled. "You're adorable when you…what is the word…?"

"Fangirl?"

"Non. Ehh…geek out?"

Cosima chuckled. "Yeah. I do that a lot…"

"You do."

She smiled sweetly at Cosima, who gasped. "You! Trickster! You're Mrs. Avoid-y! Have you seen the results from the scans?"

"Merde. I cannot get anything past you, can I?"

"No. Now stop deflecting."

Delphine sighed. "No. I have not seen the results yet."

"Can we…maybe…?" Off Delphine's hesitant look, Cosima was quick to backtrack. "I mean, that's totally personal, obvs. It's _your_ brain. Your_brain_. You don't need to show me or anything, I was just curious—"

"Of course you can see."

"Now?"

Smirking, Delphine nodded. "If we must."

Cosima grinned. "Then shall we take this to the floor, my lady?"

They slipped off the bed, their empty plates forgotten, and they migrated to the floor behind Cosima's desk. Delphine opened the envelope and spilled the dozens of scans onto the floor.

"So how did it go?" Cosima asked, pawing through the pile absently.

Delphine picked up the top one. "They asked me questions about different things, and then I left."

"Things like what?"

Among the different sheets of negatives, there was a piece of regular paper, which Delphine picked up. "These," she said, her eyes quickly scanning the list. "About my life. My job. My past. My reactions to different political situations. So on. Current events. Things I like or dislike. Memory questions."

Cosima picked up a piece of the film, holding it up to the light. "Are they labeled?" She squinted at it. "Ah! There's a number. Are the questions numbered?"

"Yes," Delphine confirmed.

"Oh! Can I guess what you were talking about? It'll be great neuroscience studying."

Delphine rolled her eyes. "Like you need to study for neuroscience."

Cosima laughed. "What? I do! It's not strictly evo devo. It's just got nods to it."

Sighing, Delphine nodded. "Yes. You may make a game out of my brain."

"When you say it like that, it sounds horrible," Cosima exclaimed, though she was still laughing.

"C'mon. Stop stalling," Delphine prodded. "What was I talking about when that was taken?"

Cosima cleared her throat and tried to put on a serious face, but she broke out into a grin. It wasn't until she was really studying the film, holding it up to the light, did her smile fade into her concentrating face.

"Okay…" she mumbled, her eyes scanning the film in her hand. "Serotonin levels high….Olfactory bulb and hippocampus active…But no concentrated activity in the frontal lobe, instead it's a scattered series of electrical impulses through the cerebrum…"

Delphine leaned forward a little, her eyes bright with adoration as she watched Cosima's free hand point to nothing in particular, making little swiveling circles and random patterns in the air as she spoke.

"They made you smell something that reminded you of your past."

"Oui."

Cosima smiled and looked over to Delphine. "What?"

"Sea water and clean linen. Ma grand-mere used to take me to the beach. Just us two. I'd run in the water, no matter how cold, and when I got out, she…she never failed to be holding a towel out, wrapping it around me tight…no matter how old I got." Delphine smiled to herself. "I loved her very much."

Cosima bit her lip and scooted a little closer, resting her head on Delphine's shoulder. "I didn't know that about you."

Delphine smiled and kissed the top of her head. "I hope you'll learn everything, eventually."

"Me too."

She tossed the scan in her hand to the side, searching for a similar one, giving a lazier explanation as she lifted it up. "Same hippocampus activity, but the condensed prefrontal cortex activity indicates short-term memory. You were recalling something they had showed you earlier, huh?"

"Tu as raison."

"I'm always right."

"Brat."

Cosima gave a side smile, rolling her head on Delphine's shoulder to kiss her cheek. "You love it."

"Mhm," Delphine confirmed.

Using Delphine's shoulder as a pivot, Cosima looked back to the scans. One in particular attracted her attention, and she lifted her head, suddenly more alert. She pulled it from the scattered pile.

"I thought you quit smoking," she said distractedly, her eyes narrowing as she studied it.

"I did. A while ago. As soon as you asked me to."

"So this…" She didn't finish her sentence.

Cosima stared hard at the image in her hand for a long time. Her thumb nail found its way into her mouth, and she unconsciously chewed at it, her eyes darting around the scan, taking in every detail. "Show don't tell," she whispered.

"Hmm?" Delphine asked, putting down the scan she had been looking at, reaching for another.

"Show, don't tell," Cosima said louder, but still to herself, chewing her lip. "You…you…"

Delphine looked at her, concern etched in her face. Cosima's eyes flicked up to meet hers, searching. She couldn't hide the smile tugging at the corners of her lips, and it was enough to at least quell Delphine's worry.

Cosima's eyes drifted back to the brain scan. "Your striatum is…" she laughed before continuing. "It's hot with activity to say the least. The…the front part here."

She pointed lazily with a wave of her finger. "And that is the sort of…learning center of the brain. It's where it learns…positive reinforcement like thinking about a cigarette and knowing it will make you feel…better. But it's…it's…_different_."

Her brow furrowed as she turned it over, searching for a different part of the brain. "And here!" she pointed to the different outside view of the brain. "Your…the right side of your brain is…_active_. But drug addictions usually present themselves evenly between the left and right side…"

She grabbed a mirroring film sheet with the same number on it. "And here's a _serious_ increase in dopamine levels…"

Delphine's eyes widened and she tried to snatch the scan, suddenly blushing. "I, uhh…I'm sorry, it's—"

"This was going on while they were asking you questions about me, wasn't it?"

The blonde bit her lip, her blush still bright.

"You _love_ me!" Cosima laughed happily. "Like…_no _question. It's…it's right there! Love mirrors the brain activity of drug addiction and it's right here!" she whacked her knuckles against the scan. "Chemical freaking proof that you love me!"

The blonde looked down, but quickly back up, giving the smallest nod. "Of course I do." She paused, smiling timidly. "Obvs."

The most delighted grin spread across Cosima's face and she basically launched herself at Delphine, finding her lips and knocking the blonde onto her back. Her lips were soft but insistent against Delphine's, who reciprocated full force, holding Cosima above her, grinning against her lips. Everything burned and swelled and crashed as their lips moved together, slow and demanding, breaths hitching and falling in gasps.

Pulling back, Cosima rested her forehead against Delphine's, keeping her eyes closed and smiling widely. "Now I know this isn't the best time," she panted, "but will you marry me? Please?"

The brunette caught Delphine's sharp intake of breath, both of them opening their eyes at the same time. Cosima could _see_ Delphine's mind working in her eyes, those adorable brown irises darting back and forth, searching for any sign of a lie in Cosima's face. They shone in clear adoration when she could find no falsehood. "Yes," she breathed, bringing her hands up to cup Cosima's face. "Yes, of course. Oui."

Cosima bit her lip and kissed her softly again, but pulled away quickly. "One sec."

She scrambled to her feet and disappeared into the bedroom. Delphine stayed where she was, cross-legged on the ground, biting her lip and peering over her shoulder, trying to get a view of what was going on. There was lots of rustling, crashing, and curses, but Cosima ran back in, sliding on the wood floor to sit right in front of Delphine.

She held out a modest ring, vintage style, grinning broadly. "I didn't know if you were into the whole, getting on one knee thing, so I can do that if you want—"

"Ce n'est pas nécessaire," Delphine breathed, extending her hand with a bright smile.

Cosima smiled even wider, carefully slipping the ring on.

"Is this why you were in my bag the other day?" Delphine asked accusingly, wiggling her fingers to get the diamond to catch the light.

"Maybe," Cosima blushed. "I didn't really know…etiquette for this kinda thing…"

"Neither did I," Delphine admitted, "which is why I…I might've gotten you one too…just in case."

She sheepishly sat up enough to reach into her back pocket, pulling out a simple and modern ring of her own. Cosima gasped. "You've been carrying that around."

"Oui!" Delphine laughed. "I had no idea if or when I would need it!"

Cosima bit her lip. "You're…you're adorable."

"I wanted to get it right. You…deserve that much."

Cosima shook her hand impatiently. "Gimme the ring, woman."

Delphine gave a faux-gasp of shock, holding the ring a little closer to her chest. "I don't know if I want to give it to you now!"

Cosima sighed, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm impatient. I'm kinda excited for forever, y'know."

Delphine melted at the words, taking Cosima's hand and fitting the ring carefully onto her finger. "I love you."

"So I've seen. I love you, too."

The blonde kissed Cosima's knuckles. "I think this is a wonderful segue into my favorite part of date night," she murmured into the skin.

Cosima bit her lip and caught Delphine's gaze. "The naked part?" she asked hopefully.

Delphine smiled, desire pooling in her now dark eyes. "Oui. I think you should take me to bed now, ma chérie."

"No objections here."


End file.
